The Curse of the Blessed

Chapter Fifty-Five

*Trigger warning for a mild panic attack*

I went to bed in shock. How could Mam not understand? How could she not see how horrible the Head Man was—how horrible the punishments he threatened for Blesseds were?

When I finally found my way to sleep, I rested uneasily.

The next day, as soon as Mam took her eyes off me, I rushed to Lark's house. I found her in the back, tending to the garden.

She looked up as she saw me arrive. Her peaceful expression quickly turned to one of concern. "What's wrong, Fyra?"

"Your sister," I said. "Mam knows about her. She knows she's a Blessed."

"She saw the flowers before I got rid of them?"

"No."

"Then how did she..." Lark looked at me with no small measure of confusion in her eyes. "I don't understand. How would she know Wren's a Blessed if she didn't see the flowers?"

I hesitated. Lark had always been kind to me, and I couldn't help but be afraid that when she learned the truth, she'd turn on me. But she deserved to know. It wasn't right for me to keep it from her. If I didn't tell her, she'd be all the more suspicious of me.

"I told her," I whispered.

All the color left Lark's face. "You... you..."

I shook my head. Tears pricked at my eyes, but for some reason, they refused to come. "I'm sorry. I thought I could trust her."

Lark finally found her voice, and as she spoke, her words tore through me like ice-cold daggers, numbing me with their painful accuracy.

"She sent you on a stupid quest with us just because you were a Blessed," she snapped. "You really thought this would be different? You thought that now you're back having succeeded—having killed the Magician and saved our ridiculous, prejudiced town—she would accept you with open arms?" She shook her head. "If she didn't accept you before, she never will now. Not if you continue to use magic. Not if you continue to be Blessed. Not if you stand by us. And now you've-"

Her voice broke, and she shook her head angrily for a moment. She reached down and brutally tore a weed out of the garden plot.

"Now you've dragged my sister into this mess. She's only ten. When the Head Man finds out, what do you think he'll do? Let her off with a pat on the back, just because she's young?"

"I didn't think at all!" I screamed. "I just thought I could trust her, since she was my mam. I thought she knew what to do. I thought she was right."

"You shouldn't have trusted anyone," said Lark. "Not with that. Not with my sister's life."

The sound of a door opening brought us out of our argument, and we turned to see Lark's mam coming out of the house.

"I thought I heard shouting," she said. Her eyes grew wide as she saw us, Lark's face red and teary. "Is everything all right?"

"Fyra told her mom about Wren," said Lark, "and her mom's going to tell the Head Man."

"We knew it was going to happen sooner or later."

"We didn't think it was going to happen because of a friend! We didn't think anyone would betray her!"

At that, I crumbled, my emotions crashing in on me. Tears blurred my vision. I hadn't expected my breath to catch the way it did. I choked on my own tears, spiraled downward into a horrible mix of sobbing and gasping for air.

I jumped as I felt arms around me.

"Oh, child," said Lark's mam. "It's going to be all right."

"No," I sobbed between gasps. "No, it won't. I messed up."